


Don't Be Late

by writingvault



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Implied/Referenced Character Death, Unidentified Reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:55:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26793241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingvault/pseuds/writingvault
Summary: Interpretation of this short story is left to be debated. Is the reader an investigator, looking to find answers to what happened so long ago? Or are you the very first victim, left confused as to what you had done to deserve this?
Kudos: 4





	Don't Be Late

One step, another step, and another. The sound of my shoes tapping down the hall echoed off the walls as if my steps were farther along than I was. The thin covering of water on the black-and-white checkered tiles made an almost completely reflective surface, the broken parts of once beloved animatronics appearing to watch me from all angles.

Between the tapping of my shoes and the quiet splashing of water dripping from the ceiling, I could hear his giggling, though whether it was in my head or if he was close seemed to escape me. Red marked the walls in taunting phrases, X’s covering doors and arrows lining the walls. If I looked carefully enough, I’d find his little plush accompanied by the one phrase I’d come to hate the most: _Do you trust me?_

I stood still as I looked at the three doors in front of me, one covered in arrows pointing to open it. It’d only lead me back to the previous room, and I can’t afford to be late. I glanced at the bare door before dashing over to the one labeled _NOT THIS ONE!_ It was as if he was trying to exploit a child’s desire to disobey by making those doors the right ones.

I was brought to another hall, doors all over the place. On the left, on the right, straight ahead. Even ones that weren’t connected to anything, just floating in the air. This is where I keep messing up; there were so many marked as the wrong door. The only door with arrows pointing towards it was the one at the very end of the hall, but that was the very first door I tried, and all it did was put me right back to where I started. I’ve already tried several of these doors, and all of them brought me back to previous points in this impossible building.

Crossing to the right, I scanned over the doors with my flashlight, trying to remember which doors I’d already tried. A few of them were easy to spot as they had muddy shoe prints at the bottom from when I’d been frustrated and kicked them open instead of turning the knobs.

I crossed over to the left, skipping over the doors with shoe prints and scanning the others. In the light, the red of the X’s and words was almost blinding, shining back at me. I studied a door for a moment before reaching up and turning the knob, hoping it was the right door and I’d finally be able to leave.

But of course, it wasn’t. It spat me back out in the elevator, an animatronic crawling across the ceiling and the question written above the front door taunting me again: What is your favorite ice cream flavor? The answer was always the door labeled _CHOCOLATE_ , whether that was your favorite or not.

Stepping out of the elevator, I almost knocked over the plush that he had planted everywhere, always encircled by the question, Do you trust me? Luckily it hadn’t fallen over, only been pushed slightly out of place. I scooted it back into its original position, knowing I might lose time was less important than what he might do if he notices something out of place.

Dashing over to the _CHOCOLATE_ door, I was brought back to the hall with the water on the floor, rain still dripping from the ceiling as I walked back to the three doors and immediately entered the one marked as wrong. I was brought back into the longer hall, the number of doors almost laughing at me. No matter how many times I come through here, how many wrong doors I pass through, I can’t ever seem to find the ‘right’ door. Looking over the doors again, I noticed some of them had bigger X’s on them than others, though whether it was to ‘spice things up’ or if they held any importance, I wasn’t sure. As I scanned the doors around me, I realized something that would have been helpful the first dozen times I’d been through here - one of the floating doors had prize boxes stacked up to it like a ladder.

I climbed the boxes carefully, making sure to place my feet in the very center of each ribbon, and making sure not to drop my flashlight as I ascended. Once I reached the door, I pushed it open and crawled through, finding myself in the kitchen. One of the animatronics stood off to the side as I studied the three doors in front of me, and I ran across the room to the door in the middle, looking back to see the animatronic eating a slice of pizza with a happy look on her face. I opened the door to find myself back in the rainy hall, tears of frustration building up in my eyes. But I couldn’t cry, he told me if I cried I wouldn’t get cake. So, I went back through the door on my left, back into the room with hundreds of doors. I stared at the tiled floor, scuffing it with my shoe. Taking a moment to calm down, I scanned the hallway with my flashlight. The beam revealed balloons of every color, grey walls covered in children’s drawings, and plate buddies.

Once I no longer felt like I was going to cry, I went towards the box stack, climbing up to the door again. Pushing the door open, I crawled back into the kitchen, the animatronic back in the corner of the room and crossing over to get a slice of pizza. This time I studied the doors more carefully. There were words above each door, though I couldn’t quite make them out. I think above the middle door said _ESCAPE_ , but I know that’s not the truth. Looking at the door to my left, all I could see was _ESSE_ , and the door on my right didn’t have anything written above or on it. I dashed across the room and to the door, looking back at the animatronic still chomping away on pizza.

Turning the knob, I found myself back in the long hallway, but instead of a bunch of doors there was a single door at the very end of the hall, dozens of balloons and prize boxes taking up the space where the other doors once were. Right beside me was an animatronic my size, holding a duel-colored balloon in his left hand and a sign reading _BALLOONS_ in his right. Where there was only one door to go through, I ran to the end of the hall and opened it. I looked behind me to see that the little animatronic had spun to face me, and I quickly moved to the next room and closed the door behind me.

And I was back in the rainy hall, the red arrows lining the halls with bright red X's covering two of the doors. But this time, one was open. The center door was open, and of course, I went over and entered the office. Everything was shut down, no lights, no sounds, nothing. It was as if this place was void of all life, the only remainder of what this place once was hanging in the air as the heavy scent of smoke from years ago. As I was looking over the buttons that were once smashed by someone scared out of their wits, the vent hidden by the desk slammed open, as if to say _hey, I'm over here!_

As soon as I crouched into it, the vent door slammed shut behind me, trapping me inside. I crawled forward until the vent split into two, the little plush rabbit sitting against the wall: _Do you trust me?_

Bright red arrows pointed to the vent on the right, signaling that was the right way to go, and there was nothing on the vent to the left. Usually he would have marked it as a Don't go this way! area, but there was just… nothing.

So, I went with the arrows. Climbing out onto a wooden floor, this new room had prize boxes everywhere, and the little rabbit plush was nowhere to be found. The room was surrounded by a purple curtain, almost like the one on the stage. This was it, this had to be the end.

Before I could stop myself, all of the frustration from going through wrong doors and the relief of it all being finally over boiled up and spilled in tears, rolling down my cheeks and turning my nose red. Once I realised that I was crying, I quickly rubbed at my face, trying to get rid of the evidence before he showed up.

The curtains shifted, his fingers pulling the curtain to the side to reveal himself, that ugly bunny face of his. He waved excitedly at me, then motioned for me to follow him before disappearing behind the curtain again. The most infuriating thing about him was that he never talked. He'd make hand gestures to convey what he was trying to say, or he'd pull a sign out of the inside of his vest - such as the _No tears, or no cake!_ sign he pulled out before sending me on a wild goose chase. I looked around, and there was a metal door to the side of the room. It wasn't marked with anything, so instead of checking it out, I followed him.

As soon as I moved out of the room and into the pitch black of the curtains, he took my flashlight from me and made the first sound I'd heard from him besides giggling

_"Shhhh."_


End file.
